It is (almost was) my birthday today and it looks like I may have won a very coveted spot in the June contest. I'm saying thank you now because in three hours I am heading out of here into an area where I may not have Internet.
So, dear friends, don't miss me too much – because I will be back in a couple of weeks or so.
I am taking my camera.

The Interview:
Gina McCarthy is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. Earlier this month, the EPA took a page from Bill Maher’s book and issued a set of new rules governing carbon emissions from power plants.
Twitter: @GinaEPA

The Panel:

Krystal Ball co-hosts MSNBC’s “The Cycle.” In addition to being a Certified Public Accountant, Ball owns an educational software business. This week she took a closer look at Justice Antonin Scalia’s career in an interview on Krystal Continued.
Twitter: @KrystalBall
Richard Clarke is a former White House National Security official and the chairman of Good Harbor Security Risk Management. His latest book is Sting of the Drone.

Tom Rogan is a columnist for National Review Online, The Daily Telegraph, and a blogger and writer for TomRoganThinks.com. One of his latest articles is “Trading with Terrorists.”

Twitter: @TomRTweets

Mid-Show:

Carol Leifer is the co-executive producer of “Devious Maids” on Lifetime. She has written for Seinfeld, Saturday Night Live, Modern Family, and Will & Grace. Her latest book is How to Succeed in Business Without Really Crying: Lessons From a Life in Comedy.

It happens.
A win in a contest, and life prevents the winner from running the contest to follow.
When a legitimate reason makes this a reality, here are a list of folks who have expressed the willingness to be approached to substitute.

Please contact them by pm, and then announce that the substitution has been made, please express your gratitude and also whether you are choosing the theme yourself, or turning that part over as well.
I would say it stands to reason that the person who has been helped will be available in the future to pay it forward.

If you want to add your name to the list, please do so. I hope and expect this list will grow a bit.
For a variety of reasons I think to have this list will be a help to our contests in the future, albeit substitutions will probably be quite rare.
If anyone can think of something that should be in this post please make a note of it in a response.

Here - as of Mid June 2014 - are the names of who those who have clearly said they would be willing, if able, to help out:

Morning After Tea Party Win, House G.O.P. Proposes End to Social Security, Return to Child Labor, Gun Rights for Pets

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—The morning after Tuesday’s stunning Tea Party victory in Virginia, House Republicans unveiled a sweeping new legislative agenda, proposing an end to Social Security, a return to child labor, and unprecedented gun rights for pets.

“The Republican Party is the party of common sense,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). “And such common-sense proposals as electronic ankle bracelets for immigrant babies and a barbed-wire fence with Canada are long overdue.”

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) echoed Speaker Boehner’s sentiments as he touted his signature legislation, “to put Americans under the age of twelve back to work.”

“Instead of spending all day playing with Xboxes, our kids should be in factories assembling them,” he said.

As for what is perhaps the most controversial G.O.P. proposal, guaranteeing gun rights for pets, Boehner said, “It’s clear that the authors of the Second Amendment meant it to apply to all mammals. All our new law says is, if you have four legs and a tail, you get a gun.”

When asked about future relations between House Republicans and President Obama, Boehner did not mince words. “If the President thinks he’s going to get the kind of cooperation and flexibility he’s gotten out of us for the past six years, he’s kidding himself,” he said. “The honeymoon is over.”

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report) — In a development that few had thought possible, Republicans in the Seventh District of Virginia on Tuesday night found an even bigger tool than Rep. Eric Cantor to represent them in the United States Congress.

Apparently deciding that Cantor was insufficiently heartless to represent their district, Republicans turned out to the polls to elect David Brat, a man whose political views “border on sociopathy,” according to exit-poll responses from voters who supported him.

During his concession speech, Rep. Cantor reflected on the mistakes that might have led to his defeat: “Should I have cut more school-lunch programs for poor children? Perhaps. Should I have cast more votes to screw over disaster victims? Definitely. Should I have not said the thing about treating children of immigrants like human beings? Man, do I wish I could take that one back. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, but at the end of the day I was just too damn empathic for this district.”

But Rep. Cantor was gracious in defeat, offering words of congratulation to the victorious Mr. Brat. “The people of the Seventh District have spoken,” he said. “The time has come to pass the torch to a new generation of asshats.”

When asked about the defeat of his longtime colleague in the House, Speaker John Boehner said, “I will give a formal statement as soon as I can stop laughing.”

I don't yet even have a photo picked for the Wide Open Space, but I do know entering implies the outside chance of a win and I know I can't host in July.

What to do of course is to not enter, even though I don't like that idea.
Or ask someone to do it for me, just in case.

Yet, and here is the subject for discussion, we could somehow have a few folks in abeyance who are willing to step in, or swap in anticipation of a future win.

Thoughts? I can't quite figure out how to do this equitably. Maybe together we could.
I'm probably not the only one who has this dilemma at times, and I am surely willing to be on a list one can call on to help out.